


Please, Head North.

by EmptySighs



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M, XiuHan - Freeform, am I too late, holiday fic, lumin - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 12:38:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5540285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmptySighs/pseuds/EmptySighs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Minseok is heartsick, and Luhan… well… he’s a pizza delivery guy… or maybe not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Please, Head North.

**Author's Note:**

> uhhh... well... this is supposed to be a holiday fic, but you see... I got the urge to write this just during christmas day ((I know, it is late)). This is kind of weird but I still hope you'll enjoy it. Happy Holidays.

Colors and figures dance before Minseok’s eyes, shuffling noises from channel to channel. He doesn’t really pay attention to what is on the screen, on time, on whatever shit is going on in the world right now. The oceans in his chest are restless, a swirling vortex --hollow, noticeable.

It’s just a bad day, he tries to convince himself as Minseok sees Kyungsoo towing a tall, sunkissed boy in the cafeteria, the words “This is my boyfriend. Jongin.” roll off his tongue along with the upward curling of his heart-shaped lips. This is nothing. Failing to answer a graded recitation in one of his courses is nothing. The possibility of him not passing the course and losing his scholarship is nothing. Tripping five flights off the stairs while breaking the news to his parents is nothing. Having no one to be physically there for him is nothing. The needle- like chimes dangling in his rib cage are nothing. 

This is nothing.

It’s just a bad day. 

He sighs and continues flipping through channels. 

He has actually forgotten that he has been expecting pizza at his doorstep until the light rapping on his door comes. He takes his wallet off his messy study table (if you could still call it that since he won’t be studying anymore for very long), and answers the door. As expected, there is the pizza box before him, in the hands of a blond boy with flushed cheeks. This isn’t the usual pizza place he orders from, but it’s the first pizza flyer that Minseok sees in the brochure and flyer stash that he isn’t aware he has accumulated.

“Hi?” the delivery boy starts. “Double pepperoni and cheese… for Minseok?” 

Minseok doesn’t even register the words said and doesn’t really care, he just wants his 14” pizza --and some hugs, he needs those nice stuff, but he knows he isn’t getting those-- so he just hands the bills and expects the boxes to be handed to him, but a pair of doe eyes just stare at him. Expecting. 

It’s unnerving.

“What?” Minseok whisper-shouts, brows furrowing. When the blond’s eyes drop to the receipt stamped on the box, Minseok follows with his. There’s nothing unusual about the things printed on the paper… well except for the additional request Cuddles would be nice and an embarrassing crying emoticon. Minseok leans back and stares at the delivery boy. “I-- I-- It has been a bad day, that’s all… and oh my god--” It’s Minseok’s turn to be smothered in mortification and redness. “I didn’t even know you read those. I mean-- of course you do. I-I’m sorry?”

 

Minseok hears soft laughter, and then he’s staring at lovely crinkled eyes. They don’t calm the vortex in him, nor the storms in his chest --but there is the fluttering of butterfly wings in his stomach and it makes him confused.

“Well, fret no more. We actually go beyond the call of duty. Consider it improved CS of some sort. We take those requests seriously as long as we could do it and it isn’t considered illegal.” the boy happily chimes, taking a step closer to Minseok’s doorstep, the pizza box still in their hands, their only witness. 

Minseok shouldn’t be allowing this. This is a stranger stepping inside his apartment without an invitation (though he already kind of just did give an invitation), his mind is really not in the game right now. He doesn’t even notice the pizza box is now nowhere between them, as he stands there face-to-face with this strange delivery boy, dumbfounded.

His senses become overwhelmed with the fragrance of pine and rosemary, a comforting arm wraps around his dejected body, and Minseok can’t bring himself to pull away because he badly needs this. Right here, right now, this is what he needs. So, Minseok lets himself be blanketed in these unfamiliar yet warm arms, leaning his head on a narrow space that feels like home.

He is not sure when the tears start falling, or when they end up in the couch in front of his television showing something that Minseok still doesn’t care about. 

The stranger doesn’t say anything, letting Minseok curl up against him. He runs his hand up and down the other’s arm, firmly and sincerely --as if attempting to shake off the unwanted feelings looming over Minseok. The crying turns to sniffling…

“This is awkward. I’m sorry. I just--” Minseok attempts to pull away, being conscious of the nonexistent personal space between them, but the stranger’s arm nudges him back to place. “I don’t even know who you are.” Minseok looks up, eyes still glassy from prior tears.

The stranger meets his gaze, with the twinkle in his eyes that Minseok swears could match the ones in the sky at night. “I’m Luhan, pizza courier and professional cuddler.” and Minseok can’t help but be affected by the curl in Luhan’s lips, and he finds himself letting out a chuckle at the last two words.

“Professional cuddler?” Minseok asks, unconsciously leaning back onto Luhan. He finally turns his face to the television and for the first time recognizes the pictures playing, an animated film. The text at the top-left corner of the screen says Big Hero 6.

“I could be, if that’s what you need.” Luhan answers, handing Minseok a slice of pizza --that he has actually forgotten. “Or your very own Baymax.”

“Baymax?” and some sort of a balloon robot appears on the screen.

“That.” Luhan munches on his own pizza slice and pats Minseok’s locks with his free hand. “You haven’t missed a lot.”

They silently watch the movie and munch on pizza slices. Luhan would occasionally run his hand on Minseok’s arm, if not, it is on his hip --resting there as if it has always done just that. Minseok can’t help but shed more tears and burrows his head onto Luhan’s chest when Baymax is about to send Hiro back to safety.

“I want my own Baymax.” Minseok groans, wiping his eyes clear of tears. The credits start rolling but they are still glued on the sofa, bodies gravitating closer and not wanting to let go. The pizza is now down to two slices and Minseok’s head and eyes are heavy from all the crying.

“Well? Are you satisfied with your care?” Luhan asks while playfully twisting random ends of Minseok’s hair with his fingertips.

“Wouldn’t you be needed back at your job?” Minseok mumbles, the smell of pine and rosemary pulling him closer and closer to sleep.

“I’m on the job. I told you, we take these requests seriously.” Luhan answers, adjusting on the couch just so Minseok could comfortably use his thigh as a pillow.

“What are the chances of you not being an axe murderer though?” Minseok asks. Luhan doesn’t look like one; and as much as his day has been shit, getting hacked to pieces is not how he envisioned how he will leave this earth.

“Good night, Minseok.” Luhan says, threading his fingers through Minseok’s locks.

The oceans inside of Minseok have gone silent, the vortex stills, but the butterflies in his stomach begin to dance with the solemn piece that his heartbeats are playing when Luhan’s lips land at his crown. And he feels better, not completely fine, but at least the hurt isn’t as bad anymore.

 

Minseok immediately flips himself over when he hears the buzzing of his phone. He lands on the floor, limbs tangled with a blanket and couple of throw pillows. Why is he even sleeping on the couch?

His eyes snap open as the recollection of last night flashes before his eyes. He jolts off of the floor and surveys his apartment, although he only has a few valuables , he can’t help but worry if there is anything missing. His flat-screen television is still mounted on the wall, his books --those first edition hard backs are expensive-- are still on his table. Everything in his living room and kitchenette seems to be where they have always been. He pads his way to his room and everything seems in order, aside from the missing blanket and throw pillows on this bed.

He searches for the flyer of the pizza house when he can’t seem to find the box anywhere in his apartment. Luhan left just like that, no notes, nothing. Minseok will know the right flyer when he sees it, so he searches and searches but he doesn’t have any luck finding that stupid flyer.

Yes. Right. There’s this thing called call logs on mobile phones. Minseok groans as he crawls to reach out for his phone, noticing the time, he only has ten minutes of spare time or he is going to be late for his first class if he is not going to take a shower right this minute. He wastes no time redialling the last number recorded

Minseok eats his frustration and doubt for breakfast as the scent of pine and rosemary wafts under his nose and the trail where Luhan’s hand wandered on his body suddenly feels warm. The butterflies in his stomach wake to the thought of Luhan’s lips on his locks and Luhan’s goodnight. There has to be something to prove the previous night’s events are real. There has to be --and the token of last night’s recollection appears when Minseok claws his face in frustration.

Crusts. Pizza crusts.

His alarm clock rings for the second time that morning.

 

The next time Minseok sees Luhan again it is later that day when he takes the shortcut through a narrow and usually deserted unnamed street on his way back to his apartment after his classes --he needs to buy time to prepare for his shift in a small bookstore. Luhan isn’t wearing his pizza delivery uniform, instead he has a white button-up with sleeves rolled just after his elbows and a matching pair of white pants and no socks or shoes. Minseok gets more confused when Luhan brings out a hand sprinkler and starts watering the plants in front of what seems to be a flower shop, which Minseok sees for the first time even though he passes through the same alley plenty of times.

Minseok stops in his tracks when Luhan looks up at him with a knowing smile, as if he knows Minseok is going to take this path home. “You’re real,” Minseok blurts out, and he is not really sure if he is relieved or surprised; albeit, he doesn’t really feel nervous or scared.

“Of course, I am real.” Luhan puts down the water sprinkler and picks up a tiny pot with a cactus before walking to where Minseok is. “For you,” Luhan says, handing the tiny pot to Minseok.

“You disappeared with only the pizza crumbs as evidence” says Minseok, reaching out for the plant nonetheless. “So… you aren’t really a pizza delivery guy?”

“I know we’ll meet again.” Luhan answers without faltering, eyes crinkling to crescents again, and Minseok doesn’t appreciate that at all because he is starting to stare at them and forgetting that things are supposed to be suspicious. “No. I was.”

“Was. And now you are?” Minseok looks past Luhan and at the flower shop. “What are you? Like, for real.”

The smile on Luhan’s lips remains as he shrugs. “I just feel like giving you a cactus.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Minseok just wants to claw at his face again because he can feel his phone vibrating in pocket, his half past five alarm. He needs to get going. “Why don’t you just tell me now? This is getting really frustrating.”

“We’ll meet again. Don’t worry.” Luhan steps back, out of Minseok’s way. “Take care of yourself, Minseok.”

“You make sure to tell me who the hell you are or I swear to God, Luhan. I’m going to consider you some kind of creep or a stalker .” Minseok stomps his way to the front of the flower shop, and the hole in the wall perfectly fits there --as if it has always been running its business in the very same place. “And this wasn’t here the last time I was here.”

“Shouldn’t you get going?” Luhan brushes him off, raising his hand --swooshing.

As little as Minseok knows about this stranger, he has a feeling that it wouldn’t be too long until he runs into him again.

Oranges and yellows turn to whites, and the wind starts to get colder --but relenting and soft. It has been a complete change of season.

Minseok keeps the cactus alive, taking as much care of it as he can while waiting for Luhan to appear again --keeping himself occupied. The night sky has never been the same, for the stars have suddenly been outshined and all Minseok could think about are those crinkled eye smiles that he wishes he could bottle up. And he doesn’t understand why he feels like this, why he yearns for a touch that kissed his skin for one precious moment. 

While waiting, Minseok sees Kyungsoo. He doesn’t feel anything when he sees heart-shaped smiles that aren’t meant for him or Kyungsoo lacing his fingers through hands that aren’t Minseok’s. Minseok has stopped wanting them. While waiting, Minseok busies himself with his courses, reading through page after page of his textbooks, answering questions thrown at him, passing every class, and keeping his scholarship. The vortex that used to be inside of him stops spinning, along with the calming of the oceans in his chest --but the chimes hanging from his rib cage play a song of wistfulness and the butterflies in Minseok’s stomach continue to dance . Amidst the waiting, Minseok still walks the alley where he last saw Luhan --the flower shop is not there anymore, as if it had never been there.

One day in December, where the unnamed alley and the main street meet, Minseok meets Luhan again.

It’s deja vu as Minseok stops in his tracks, the hands in his coat pockets suddenly become colder. Luhan looks at him with the same smile that Minseok will not admit he is missing. 

But this time, Minseok feels nervous. 

Luhan is the one to close the distance between them, hands occupied with beverage cups. Minseok loses the ability to speak with the sudden lump in his throat. They stand a feet apart from each other

“Something to keep you warm.” Luhan says, handing Minseok one of the cups. Minseok is still marvelling at the sight before him and becomes unable to respond “Minseok…”

“You’re back.” Minseok finally breathes out the air he doesn’t even realize he has been holding. “Where have you been?” Luhan only pushes the cup towards him again. Minseok takes it this time.

“I told you, we’ll meet again.” Luhan takes his unoccupied hand and starts towing him to the opposite direction of where Minseok is supposed to be going. Minseok doesn’t pull away, he still has an hour before his shift starts. Their laced fingers ignites something inside him, an ember that has been long asleep but finally lit to a flame again. This is the touch he wants, has been yearning for --the one that changes the hymns of his heart, but he knows nothing of this touch aside from it feeling so right.

“You’ll tell me this time?” Minseok asks when both of them are finally seated in the swings of an empty playground. Kicking the sand under his feet, he starts moving the swing while waiting for Luhan to answer his question and fill the silence.

“I’m sorry I took a while.” Luhan does the same with his own swing. “I’ve been busy with gifts and stuff.”

Minseok just hums and sips from his coffee again, waiting for Luhan to continue and pops the questions that have been long due.

“You have been waiting for me for years actually.” Luhan says, and with that Minseok can’t help but raise one of his eyebrows and throw him a questioning look. “You have. Here, I’ll show you.” Luhan stops swinging and reaches for something inside his pocket.

The question of who exactly Luhan is runs through Minseok’s head faster, spiraling into confusion and anticipation. He stops and waits.

Luhan pulls out envelops in different sizes and designs, all of them childish, colorful --and familiar... 

“I wrote those…” Minseok says.

Luhan chuckles, handing back the envelopes with two words on the flap that young Minseok used to write --To Santa.


End file.
